Attention aspiring Asian-American actors: Director Jon M. Chu is turning to social media to cast his latest film, an adaption of Kevin Kwan’s bestselling novel “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Chu and his production team are inviting actors and other creatives to upload their two-minute audition videos to Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter using the hashtag #CrazyRichAsiansCasting for the chance to be considered for a role.
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“You may or may not know that ['Crazy Rich Asians'] is the first all-Asian cast from an American Hollywood studio in a long, long time,” Chu said in a video introducing the contest. “So it’s a great opportunity to showcase all of the Asian talent out there.”
Kwan’s novel follows the lives of Rachel Chu, a Chinese-American economics professor and her extremely wealthy boyfriend Nick Young as they experience what New York Times book critic Janet Maslin called a “cult of opulence” during a visit to Nick’s native Singapore. The novel quickly became a bestseller, with almost a million copies in print to date.
Actors interested in auditioning for a role are instructed to create videos in which they introduce themselves and read for a brief scene. The complete rules can be found on the official “Crazy Rich Asians” website.
“We really just wanted to open up the process because we know how hard it is to get in the door,” Chu said in the video announcement.
The contest is scheduled to run until Feb. 10.
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